The complete source for building, designing, and remodeling green homes
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Sizing Up the Carbon Problem
These are troubling times for conscientious architects and builders. A 2019 report from the U.N. Environment Programme offers a “bleak” outlook in progress toward controlling greenhouse gas emissions and holding…
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Air-to-Water Heat Pump Retrofit
Air-to-water heat pumps generate a lot of buzz, but is anyone installing them? When we purchased our hydronics-based home in 2015, I was intrigued by the prospect of replacing the…
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Air Sealed and On Piers
As a remodeling contractor, I often find myself with unique projects that take some outside-the-box thinking, and this job was no different. My customers wanted to add a 12-ft. by…
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Another Take on a Concrete-Free Slab
Randy Williams of Willcon Inc. recently contacted me regarding a project he is wrapping up in northern Minnesota. I was intrigued because he has eliminated the concrete slab foundation altogether,…
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Installing Flangeless Windows
Some of you may have taken the time to watch my video series with Fine Homebuilding about properly installing flanged windows in multiple assemblies. Those methods apply to most windows…
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Five Walls that Work
The subhead to this article—Whether you follow your local building code or shoot for high performance, use this guide to make sure your walls won't fail—makes a promise it can…
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Makeup Air for Kitchen Exhaust
Building codes are chock full of instances in which requirements for a certain assembly or feature are laid out in great detail, but the thing itself isn’t actually required. It’s…
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Living Building Challenge Met
The Living Building Challenge (LBC)— designed by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI)—is considered to be the world’s most rigorous green-building standard. The LBC is organized into seven performance areas…
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A Case for Double-Stud Walls
As a small-volume builder who mostly does renovations, I have not built that many new houses in my career. But those I have built, have all been thoughtfully designed and…
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Insights from a Practical Passive House
The office of Birdsmouth Design Build is located in a renovated, 850-square-foot Pullman rail car in downtown Portland, Or. This wasn’t always the case, but at a point when the…
